I am an emeritus professor from Cornell University and was a Commissioned Lay Preacher in the Presbyterian Church (USA). For many years I have followed the Daily Lectionary as printed in the Mission Yearbook of my church. For each day of a two-year cycle, the lectionary lists four psalms and three other scriptural passages--usually one from the Old Testament and two from the New Testament. My practice is to copy down a verse or two from one of the psalms and from each of the other three passages. After I have written out all four selections, I reflect upon them, rearrange their order, and incorporate them into a meditation. Sometimes I retain much of the original wording; sometimes all that remains of a selection is an idea that was stimulated when I read the original words. All selections are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible. For the Daily Lectionary, see the link below.

April 18, 2008

I. Readings
Psalms 49, 96, 138
Exodus 34:18-35
1 Thessalonians 3:1-13
Matthew 5:27-37

II. Selections
Psalm 138:3
On the day I called, you answered me,
you increased my strength of soul.

Exodus 34:28
[ Moses] was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.

1 Thessalonians 3:12
And may the LORD make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we abound in love for you.

Matthew 5:37
" ...Let your word be 'Yes, Yes' or No, No'; anything more than this comes from the evil one. ... " [ Jesus, seated on the mountain, speaking to the crowds]

III. Meditation: Forty days and forty nights

In our days we spend with you,
we call upon you to answer us:
increase our strength of soul
and our plain truthfulness;
increase our love for all.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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